Fold-over face-type floor mat

ABSTRACT

A fold-over face-type floor mat which comprises a flexible base sheet member and a flexible reversible face member integrally formed with or detachably secured to the base sheet member in the center in the longitudinal direction of the latter to divide the upper surface of the sheet member into two half surface portions. The reversible face member normally lies on either one of the two half surface portions of the base sheet member and is manually reversed. One face of the reversible face member provides a foot-in-footgear support face in cooperation with one of the two half surface portions of the base sheet member and the other face provides a bare foot support face in cooperation with the other half surface portion of the base sheet member. The bare foot support face may be covered with a cloth cover sheet or carpet which is detachably secured to the face or has short fiber pile embedded therein. The reversible face member may be alternatively formed by gluing portions of two identical flexible base sheet members together back to back.

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FOLD-OVER FACETYPE FLOOR MAT Filed Nov. 6, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 MWsUJlv YAMAGUCHI 3,823,058

FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR MAT Filed Nov. 6, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 9 MITSUJI YAMAGUCHI 3,823,058

FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR MAT Filed Nov. e, 1972 l 9 sheets-sheet MrrsuJl YAMAGUCH: 3,823,058

FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR MAT Filed Nov. e, 1972 9 sheets-snaai 4 MHV 99 19% MlTsuJl MMAGUCHI 3,823,058

FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR MAT Filed Nov. 6, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 llllllllll Il I 86 88 SZ 83 85 MITSUJ! YAMAGUCHI FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR HAT 9 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Nov. 6, 1972 MrrsuJz YAMAGUCH! 8234358 FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR MAT Filed Nov. is, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet '7 MrrsuJl YAMAGUCHI 3,823,058

FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR MAT Filed Nov. 6, 1972 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 .Hy 9, wm

TSUJI YAMAGUCHI FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR MAT 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 Filed Nov. 6, 1972 Fig. 33 ,TO

United States Patent O 3,823,058 FOLD-OVER FACE-TYPE FLOOR MAT Mitsuji Yamaguchi, Toyoyama-mnra, Japan, assignor to Universal Climb Co., Ltd., Nagoya, Japan Filed Nov. 6, 1972, Ser. No. 303,818 Int. Cl. B32!) 3/00; B6Zd 25/20` U.S. Cl. 161-119 15 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fold-over face-type oor mat which comprises a flexible base sheet member and a flexible reversible face member integrally formed with or detachably secured to the base sheet member in the center in the longitudinal direction of the latter to divide the upper surface of the sheet member into two half surface portions. The reversible face member normally lies on either one of the two half surface portions of the base sheet member and is manually reversed. One face of the reversible face member provides a foot-in-footgear support face in cooperation with one of the two half surface portions of the base sheet member and the other face provides a bare foot support face in cooperation with the other half surface portion of the base sheet member. The bare foot support face may be covered with a cloth cover sheet or carpet which is detachably secured to the face or has short liber pile embedded therein. The reversible face member may be alternatively formed by gluing portions of two identical exible base sheet members together back to back.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to fold-over face-type iloor mat suitable for use on the floor of a vehicle.

A variety of mat devices for use on the floor 4of a vehicle have been proposed up to now. Most of the conventional vehicle oor mat devices have been formed of a single sheet of one material.

The vehicle floor mat device was principally employed as a foot-in-footgear support means on which the occupant of a vehicle who may be the driver or passenger placed his foot-in-footgear and therefore, when the occupant desired to place his bare feet on the mat device, he had to spread a sheet or sheets of old newspaper or other available sheets over the mat device and then place his bare feet on the newspaper sheet or sheets.

Thus, the conventional vehicle floor mat devices could not readily conform to the vehicle occupants demand who desired to place his bare foot on the mat device as he rides in the vehicles.

As far as we know, the conventional vehicle floor mat devices failed to provide the very advantageous arrangements, combinations and operative effects of component parts obtainable by the present invention as will be described hereinafter as the description of preferred embodiments of the invention progresses.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, one primal object of the present invention is to provide a fold-over face-type oor mat for use on the floor of a vehicle the face of which can readily be reversed in conformity with the occupants desire and which comprises a flexible base sheet member and a flexible reversible face member integrally formed with or detachably secured to the base sheet member in the center in the longitudinal direction of the sheet member to divide the upper surface of the sheet member into two half surface portions, one face of said reversible face member providing a foot-in-footgear support face in cooperation with one of said two half surface portions and the other face providing a bare foot support face in cooperation with the 3,823,058 Patented July 9, 1974 other half surface portion of the base sheet member whereby the reversible face member can present either the footin-footgear support face or bare foot support face as the occupant desires and a comfortable foot rest is given to the occupant.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fold-over face-type floor mat for use on the oor of a vehicle which comprises a pair of exible sheet members in the same plane portions which are secured together in back to back relationship to provide a reversible face member which normally extends in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the pair of base sheet members and which has one face on one side which provides a footin-footgear support face in cooperation with the upper surface of the remaining portion of one of the two base sheet members and the other face on the other side which provides a bare foot support face in cooperation with the remaining portion of the other base sheet member, said remaining portions of the two base sheet members extending in the opposite directions to define an included angle below their juncture and having transverse folding notches cut in the underside thereof adjacent to said juncture whereby the reversible face member can readily expose the foot-in-footgear support face or bare foot support face to the occupant as the case may be.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fold-over face-type floor mat for use on the floor of a vehicle which comprises a single flexible foldable sheet member which has a bare foot support face provided by the entire upper surface of the sheet member and a foot-in-footgear support face provided by one-half portion of the underside of the sheet member whereas the other half portion of the underside of the sheet member is provided with an inclined buffering face whereby the buffering face gives a suitable inclination to both the bare foot and foot-infootgear support faces for supporting the occupants foot which inclines in conformity with the occupants position on his seat within the vehicle.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fold-over face-type oor mat for use on the oor of a vehicle which is particularly suitable for mass production at low cost while maintaining its good appearance and without impairing its commercial value which comprises a single flexible sheet member and a flexible reversible face member extending transversely of and detachably secured to the base .sheet member in the center in the longitudinal direction of the base sheet member to divide the upper surface of the base sheet member into two half portions and having one face on one side which provides a foot-infootgear support face in cooperation with one of the two half surface portions and the other face on the opposite side which provides a bare foot support face in cooperation with the other half surface portion.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a fold-over face-type floor mat device for use on the floor of a vehicle in which the base sheet member and reversible face member which are provided with foot-in-footgear and bare foot support faces, respectively, are provided with projections along the peripheral edges extending at right angles with respect to the planes of the respectively associated members and the projections are adapted to engage with each other when the reversible face member is placed against the base sheet member whereby when the footin-footgear support face is employed, the bare foot support face is protected against dirt, moisture and the like.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a fold-over face-type oor mat for use on the oor of a vehicle in which the underside of the flexible base sheet member is provided with a plurality of projections extending downwardly where the sheet member contacts the vehicle floor and arranged radially as means for holding the mat device in position against movement BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of foldover face-type floor mat for use on the oor of a vehicle embodying the present invention showing the device in one operative condition;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line II-II of FIG. 1 showing the reversible face member standing uprightly;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the device of FIG. 1 showing when the reversible face member lies against the base sheet member so as to expose the foot-in-footgear support face;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the device of FIG. 1 showing when the reversible face member lies against the base sheet membrer`so as to expose the foot-in-footgear support face;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a modification of the connection between the base sheet member and reversible face member shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 through 9 inclusive are fragmentary crosssectional views of other modifications of the connection between the base sheet member and reversible face member shown in FIG. 2;

IFIG. 10 is a side elevational view of another embodiment of fold-over face-type floor mat of the invention showing the reversible face member standing upright;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of said device of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view of said device of FIG. 10 as seen from the underside thereof showing the joint between the pair of sheet members in the embodiment of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a side elevational view of a modification of said device of FIG. 10;

FIG. 14 is a side elevational view of said device of FIG. 13 showing the device in an operative condition different from that shown in FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of said` device shown in FIGS. 13 and 14;

FIG. 16 is a plan view of a further different embodiment of fold-over face-type fioor mat for use on the oor of a vehicle embodying the present invention showing the device in one operative condition;

FIG. 17 is a side elevational view of the device of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of said device of FIG. 16 showing the device in an operative condition different from that shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing the reverse side of the device shown in FIG. 16;

FIG. 20 is an exploded perspective view of a still further different embodiment of fold-over face-type floor mat embodying the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along substantially the line XXI-XXI of FIG. 20 with portion thereof taken away and the reversible face member eliminated therefrom;

FIG. 22 is a fragmentary plan view of said device of FIG. 20 showing the underside thereof;

FIG. 23 is a side elevational view in partial section of said device of FIG. 20 with the reversible face member connected to the base sheet member;

FIG. 24 is a fragmentary longitudinally sectional view of a still further different embodiment of fold-over facetype fioor mat of the invention showing a modified peripheral edge rim arrangement employed in the device;

FIG. 25 is a longitudinally sectional view of a modification of said peripheral edge rim arrangement of FIG. 24;

FIG. 26 is a longitudinally sectional view of a modication of said fold-over face-type fioor mat shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 27 is a plan view showing an arrangement of resilient projections which may be provided in the floor contacting or base sheet member of any of the fold-over facestype fioor mat as shown in FIGS. 1, l0 and 20 in order to prevent the fioor mat against movement relative to the floor of a vehicle;

FIG. 28 is a side elevational view of the iioor contacting member having said resilient projections thereon as shown in FIG. 27;

FIG. 29 is a fragmentary side elevational view on an enlarged scale of one of said resilient projections shown in FIG. 27;

FIG. 30 is a plan view of FIG. 29;

FIG. 31 is a perspective view of FIG. 29; and

FIGS. 32 and 33 are plan views of other embodiments of resilient projections.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention will be now described referring to the accompanying drawings and more particularly, to FIGS. l through 4 inclusive in which a first embodiment of fold over face-type floor mat for use on the floor of a vehicle is shown. In FIG. l, two foot support devices connected side by side by means of a flexible connection web 11 are shown; one of the devices is for the driver and the other is for the passenger, for example. Since the two foot support devices are identical, description will be made of only one of them with the understanding that the description applies equally to the other device.

The fold-over face-type floor mat 10 generally comprises a fiexible rectangular base sheet member 12 having the upper surface 13 one end portion 14 of which is set aside as a doffed footgear receiving face defined in the manner as will be described hereinafter. The remaining portion of the base sheet member surface 13 is divided into two surface portions 15 and 16 of substantially the same area for the purpose to be described hereinbelow. A rectangular flexible reversible face member 20 is integrally formed with the base sheet member extending transversely of the sheet member at the junction between the two surface portions 15 and 16 in the manner and for the purpose as will be described hereinbelow.

The reversible face member 20 has a first face 21 on one side which is contiguous to the surface portion 15 of the surface 13 and provides a foot-in-footgear support face 17 together with the associated surface portion when the reversible face member 20 falls against the other surface portion 16 of the surface 13 and a second face 22 on the opposite side which is contiguous to the surface portion 16 of the surface 13 and provides a bare foot support face 18 together with the associated surface portion when the reversible face member 20 falls against the surface portion 15.

The surface 13 of the base sheet member 12 is formed with an upwardly projecting peripheral rim 30 along the whole edge of the Ibase sheet member 12 having a suitable height. In addition, an upwardly projecting demarcation rim 31 is provided at the junction between the doffed footgear receiving face 14 and surface portion 15 of the base sheet member surface 13 and has a height substantially equal to that of the peripheral rim 30. The demarcation rim 31 merges into the peripheral rim 30 at the opposite ends.

The opposite faces 21 and 22 of the reversible face member 20 are also integrally formed with outwardly projecting rims 32 along the three side edges thereof which are shaped and positioned to fit on the rim 30 and/or demarcation rim 31 on the surface 13 when the reversible face member 20 falls against either the surface portion or 16.

In order that the rim 32 may perfectly fit on the rims 30 and 31 as the reversible face assembly 20 falls against the surface portion 16 so as to expose the foot-in-footgear face 17, the rim 30 on the surface portion 15 is preferably formed with a pair of notches (not shown).

The arrangement for the peripheral rims 30 and 32 may be varied as will be described in detail hereinafter.

A cloth cover sheet 40 is detachably secured to the surface portion 16 and second face 22 of the face member 20 by means of suitable fastening means 130 and is of a size sufficient to cover the surface portion area 16 and face 22.

Alternatively, the cover sheet 40 may be formed of a conventional carpet or formed by directly and statically embedding short |.fiber strands in the surface portion 16 and face 22 so the strands partially protrude out of the surface portion and face within the scope of the invention.

The base sheet member 12 and reversible face member may be formed of any suitable conventional material such as rubber or synthetic resin and the connection 23 between the sheet member 12 and reversible face member ,20 may be formed with any one of the configurations as shown in FIGS. 5 through 9 inclusive.

In FIG. 5, one embodiment of connection arrangement for the base sheet member 12 and reversible face member 20 is shown and the connection arrangement 23 comprises a downwardly tapered root 24 of the face member where the member is integrally connected to the base sheet member 12.

The connection arrangement 23 shown in FIG. 6 comprises the thinned root 24 of the face member 20 and a curved concave 24 formed in the base sheet member 12 and the face member and base sheet member are integrally connected together by the root and concave.

The connection arrangement 23 of FIG. 7 comprises the thinned root 24 of the face member 20 and a exible reinforcing piece 25 which extends through the thinned root 24 into the base sheet member 12 to connect the face member and base sheet member together. The flexible reinforcing piece 25 is made of cloth or the like.

The connection arrangement 23 shown in FIG. 8 comprises the reversed T-shaped root of the face member 23 including a thinned root 24 and an integral transverse arm 26 and a recess 27 formed in the base sheet member 12 for receiving the arm whereby the face member and base sheet member are integrally connected together.

The connection arrangement 23 shown in FIG. 9 comprises the root 24 of the face member 20 which includes bellows 28 where the face member is integrally connected to the base sheet member 12.

From the foregoing description of the various embod1- ments of connection arrangement, it will be understood that the reversible face member 20 normally lies against either the surface portion 15 or 16 under its own weight and is manually reversed.

The reversible face member 20 is provided with a handle 19 at the outer edge remote from the root thereof for manual operation of the face member when it is desired to turn the member from the surface portion 15 to the surface portion 16 or vice Versa.

FIGS. 10 through 12 show a second embodiment of fold-over face-type oor mat embodying the present invention and the oor mat of this embodiment 50 comprises a rst rectangular exible sheet member 51 and a second rectangular flexible sheet member 52 having a somewhat shorter length than the rst sheet member 51 and the two sheet members extend in one common plane in the opposite directions toward each other. The second sheet member 52 has a plurality of short fiber strands embedded therein so as to partially project out of one surface or the upper surface of the sheet member 52. As shown in FIG. 10, the inner half portions of the rst and second sheet members 51 and 52 are secured into a unitary unit back to back to provide a reversible face member 60. The face assembly 60 has one face on one side which provides a foot-in-footgear support face 53 together with the outer half surface portion of the first sheet member 51 when the reversible face member falls against the outer half surface portion of the second sheet member 52 and the outer surface on the opposite side which provides a bare foot support face 54 together with the outer half surface portion of the second sheet 52 when the reversible face member falls against the outer half surface portion of the first sheet member 51. The underside of the free or outer half portions of the rst and second sheet members 51 and 52 is secured to the upper surface of an underlying floor contacting or support member 7 0 formed of relatively soft material and the underside of the floor contacting member in turn contacts the floor of a vehicle.

Furthermore, in the oor mat of FIG. 10, in order that the reversible face member 60 may be easily turned in one or the other direction so as to expose either the footin-footgear or bare foot support face, the first and second sheet members 51 and 52 are formed on the opposite inner sides thereof with folding notches 61 and 62 at the juncture between the outer and inner half portions of the two sheet members. These notches 61 and 62 extend in parallel to the shorter sides of the sheet members 51 and 52 between the longer sides of the sheet members.

In order to further facilitate the positioning of the reversible face member 6.0, the rst and second sheet members 51 and 52 are slightly spaced from each other below the notches 61 and 62 to provide an opening 63 including the notches 61 and 62 with an included angle.

FIGS. 13 and 14 shows a modification of the fold in the rst and second sheet members 51 and 52 which facilitates the positioning of the reversible face member 60 and at the same time, smooths the transitive variation in the configuration of the foot-in-footgear and bare foot support faces 53 and 54.

In the arrangement of FIGS. 13 and 14, the distance L from the inner end of the junction between the first and second sheet members 51 and 52 to the upper surface of the floor contacting member 70 where the sheet members are secured to the floor contacting member 70 is-within the range of about 3 to about 5 times as great as the thickness of the sheet members 51 and 52.

And in order to facilitate the positioning of the reversible face member and lessen the stepwise variation in the configuration of the foot-in-footgear and bare foot support faces 53 and 54, the thickness of the inner half portions of the sheet members 51 and 52, which are secured together to provide the reversible face member 60, is preferably smaller than that of the other or outer half portions of the sheet members which are secured to the floor contacting member 70.

If it is desired to provide a space or face to receive the doffed footgear as required when the bare foot support face 53 of the reversible face member 60 is being used, the length of the first sheet member 51 which provides the foot-in-footgear support face 53 is preferably made longer than that of the second sheet member 52 which provides the bare foot support face 54 so that the foot-in-footgear support face 53 may have an ample space for the doifed footgear while the bare foot support face 54 supports the occupants foot.

The rst and second sheet members 51 and 52 in the second embodiment of foot support mat device of FIG. 10 are formed of the same resilient material as that of the corresponding part of the first embodiment of FIG. 1 and the peripheral edge and demarcation rims of the second embodiment may be also formed in the same manner as such rims in the first embodiment.

FIGS. 16 through 19 inclusive show a third and embodiment of fold-over face-type floor mat of the invention and the floor mat of this embodiment is particularly suitable for supporting the drivers foot in a vehicle. Therefore, the floor mat of this embodiment is given an angle for supporting foot at an angle desired by the driver in driving the vehicle.

The floor mat 80 of FIG. 16 generally comprises a rectangular sheet member 81 which can be folded in half and has the upper surface 82 in which short fiber strands are statically embedded so as to partially protrude out of the surface to provide a bare foot support face 84. The lower surface or underside 83 of the sheet member 81 includes two half portions, that is, a planer portion forming the foot-in-footgear support face 85 and the other portion forming an inclined face 86 formed by an inclined buffering member 87.

The buffering member 87 has a plurality of rows of resilient projections having different lengths with the row nearest to the inner edge of the half lower surface portion 86 being the shortest and the succeeding rows gradually increasing in length toward the outer edge of the asso ciated half lower surface portion in conformity with foot supporting angle desired as determined by the seating position of the occupant within the vehicle. If desired, these projections may be replaced by foam resin blocks having a similar height variation (not shown) without departing from the scope of the invention.

In the oor mat 80 of this embodiment, in order to facilitate the folding of the sheet member 81, the upper surface 82 of the sheet member 81 which provides the bare foot support face 84 is provided with a transverse folding score line 89 in the center of the sheet member to divide the sheet member into the two rectangular half surface portions which in combination provide the bare foot support face. These rectangular portions have longer sides in the width direction of the parent sheet member 81 and shorter sides in the length direction of the sheet member. A handle 90 is provided at one end of the sheet member substantially in the center of the end for manually folding the sheet member 81 and the handle is preferably formed of any suitable resilient material. Similarly, a loop 91 is provided at the other end of the sheet member substantially in the center of the end for receiving the handle 90 in the opening 92 of the loop 91. When the handle 90 is inserted in the loop 91, the foot support mat device 80 which is now in its folded condition can be conveniently carried about.

Since the iioor mat 80 is provided with the inclined face 86 on the underside of one of the two half portions of the sheet member 81, that is, the half portion different from! that on which the foot-in-footgear face 85 is lsupported, when the foot-in-footgear support face 85 is used, the resilient projections 88 on the inclined face 86 is positioned right below the foot-in-footgear support face 85 and resiliently supports the latter so as to keep the face 85 from contacting the floor of a vehicle, the bare foot support face 84 can be protected against moisture and/or dust which may be present on the vehicle oor and kept clean.

And since the foot support mat device 80 is provided with the inclined buffering member 87, the mat device is always maintained at a suitable angle in conformity with any particular seated position of the occupant by virtue of the buffering action of the buffering member whereby fatigue on the part of the occupant may be alleviated and a comfortable ride is assured.

It will be appreciated that the sheet member 81 of the oor mat of this embodiment may be formed of the same liexible material as that of the corresponding parts of the foregoing embodiments such as rubber or synthetic resin, for example, and the peripheral edge rim of the sheet member 81 can be also formed in the same manner as the corresponding rims in the previously described embodiments.

FIGS. 20 through 24 inclusive show a fourth embodiment of fold-over facetype floor mat of the invention and the oor mat 100 of this embodiment has a configuration particularly suitable for mass production at low cost while maintaining an acceptable appearance and without diminishing the commercial value of the product.

The oor mat 100 of this fourth embodiment generally comprises a rectangular flexible base sheet member 101 and a detachable flexible reversible face member 102. The upper surface of the base sheet member 101 is divided into substantially equal two half portions 103 and 104 in the longitudinal direction. The half portion 103 forms a part of the bare foot support face and the other half portion 104 forms a part of the foot-in-footgear support face in co-operation with the associated faces of the reyersible face member 102, respectively in the manner as will be described hereinbelow.

The face member 102 is detachably attached to the base sheet member 101 traversely of the sheet member along the junction between the two half surface portions 103 and 104 and has one face 105 on one side which provides the bare foot support face in cooperation with the half surface portion 103 and the other face 106 on the opposite side which provides the footin-footgear support face in cooperation with the other half surface portion 104. The inner or base edge of the reversible face member 102 is integrally provided with spaced reverse T-shaped tongues 111 and 112 and a handle 113 is integrally formed at the other or outer edge of the face member 102 in the center of the outer edge.

The base sheet member 101 is provided with spaced and aligned grooves or slits 114 along the junction between the two half portions 103 and 104 for receiving the tongues 111 and 112.

The underside of the base sheet member 101 is provided with counter bores 115 surrounding the grooves 114 for receiving the arms of the reversed T-shaped tongues 111 and 112.

The tongues 111 and 112 are not limited to the illustrated configuration, but may be designed to have any other suitable shape such as a L-shape.

Thus, the floor mat 100 can be easily and rapidly assembled by inserting the tongues 111 and 112 into the associated grooves 114 until the arms of the tongues are positioned in the associated counter bores 115. Such assembling of the iioor mat 100 is facilitated by virtue of the flexibility of the base sheet member and reversible face member 102. Similarly, the disassembling of the oor mat 100 can be easily and rapidly carried out by pulling the sheet member and face member apart.

Also in the floor mat 100 of the fourth embodiment, the base sheet member 101 and reversible face member 102 are preferably formed of rubber or synthetic resin, for example and the sheet member and face member may be provided with peripheral edge rims in the same manner as the rims in the foregoing embodiments.

FIGS. 24 through 26 inclusive show various types of peripheral edge rims which can be selectively provided in the various embodiments of foot support mat devices 10, 50, and 100 as described hereinabove.

Referring now to FIG. 24, the peripheral edge rims 30 and 32 are preferably provided with mating sloped faces 33 and 34, respectively so that the rims can smoothly engage and disengage from each other when the reversible face member is turned in one or the other direction so as to expose the bare foot support or footin-footgear support face.

In FIG. 25, the section of the peripheral edge rim 30 which engages the section of the peripheral edge rim 32 at the outer edge of the face member where the handle 113 is provided is shown as having a greater height as compared with the height of the associated section of the rim 32 and accordingly, when the face member is turned so as to expose the foot-in-footgear support face, the free end or outer end of the handle 113 is somewhat raised relative to the inner end or root of the same handle for easy manipulation of the handle.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 26, the peripheral edge rims 30 and 32 may be notched at 35 at the area adjacent to the junction therebetween so that the base sheet member and reversible face member can smoothly engage.

FIGS. 27 through 33 shows alternative arrangements of means which keep the -floor mat in position on the floor of a vehicle against movement relative to the vehicle floor. In the arrangement shown in FIG. 27, such means comprises a plurality of resilient projections 120 formed on the underside of the base sheet member and arranged radially and outwardly extending from the center of the sheet member. Each of the resilient projections 120 preferably has a pyramid shape with the eccentric tip point as shown in FIGS. 29` through 3l. The resilient projections 120 may aslo be in the shape of an oblique cone. The arrangement of the resilient projections 120 may be alternatively made as shown in FIGS. 32 and 33 in which the projections are divided into a plurality of groups with the projections in each group arranged radially and outwardly extending from the center of each group.

With the provision of such means, the foot support mat device can be held in position on the vehicle floor despite vehicle vibration and frictional force and pressure imposed by the occupants foot while driving.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modification and variation may be made without departing from what is regarded to be the subject matter of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A vehicle oor mat comprising a flexible base sheet member a flexible reversible face member connected to said base sheet member to divide the surface of the base sheet member into two portions, said reversible face member being foldable with respect to the base sheet member and having a face on one side which provides a foot-in-footgear support face in cooperation with one of said two surface portions of the base sheet member and another face on the opposite side which provides a bare foot support face in cooperation with the other surface portion of the sheet member.

2. A vehicle floor mat comprising a first flexible sheet portion having a face on one side which provides a footn-footgear support face, a second flexible sheet portion having a face on one side which pro-vides a bare foot surface face, and, reversible face member molded integrally and being foldable with respect to the sheet portions and having a face on one side which provides a foot-in-footgear support face in cooperation with said face of the iirst exible sheet portion and the other face on the opposite side which provides a bare foot support face in cooperation with said face of the second flexible sheet portion.

3. A vehicle floor mat which comprises a pair of flexible base sheet members in the same plane inner portions of which are operatively secured together in back to back relationship to provide a reversible face member which normally lies in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the other portions of said two sheet members and which has one face on one side and another face on the other side, the outer portions of said two resilient members extending in said same plane in opposite directions and providing an included angle on the underside thereof at their junction and having transverse notches cut in the underside of said outer portions of the base sheet members adjacent to said included angle and said one face of the reversible face member providing a footin-footgear support face in cooperation with the upper surface of the outer portion of one of the two sheet members and said other face of the reversible face member providing a bare foot support face in cooperation with the upper surface of the outer portion of the other sheet member.

4. The vehicle oor mat as set forth in Claim 2 in which a flexible oor contacting sheet member is secured to the underside of said outer portions of the two base sheet member.

5. The vehicle floor mat as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said reversible member is connected to said base member by a root extending from said reversible face member, the root of said reversible face member being thinner than the rest of the reversible face member.

`6. The vehicle iioor mat as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said reversible member is connected to said base member by la root extending from said reversible face member, the root of said reversible face member being in the form of bellows which are integrally formed with said base sheet member.

7. A vehicle iioor mat comprising a single sheet member foldable into two portions and the entire one surface of said sheet member provides a bare foot support face whereas the reverse surface of the sheet member is divided into a foot-in-footgear support face and an inclined buffering portion gradually increasing the height from the fold line in the sheet member toward the outer edge of buffering portion.

8. A vehicle floor mat which comprises a flexible base sheet member the upper surface of which is divided into a first portion, and a second portion and a flexible reversible face member detachably secured to said base sheet member at the junction between said first and second surface portions of the base sheet member extending transversely of the sheet member and having a first face on one side and a second face on the opposite side which provide base foot support and foot-in-footgear support faces, respectively, in cooperation with said first and second surface portions of the base sheet member, respectively.

9. The vehicle iioor mat as set forth in Claim 1, in which a cloth cover sheet is detachably fastened to said bare foot support face by means of fastening means.

10. The vehicle floor mat as set forth in Claim 1, in which said bare foot support face has a plurality of short fiber strands embedded therein so as to partially Y project out of the face.

1-1. The vehicle floor mat as set forth in Claim 1, in which said foot-in-footgear support face has an area suicient to provide a storage region where doffed footgear is placed while said bare foot support face is being used.

12. The Vehicle floor mat as set forth in Claim 1, in which said base sheet member and reversible face member are provided with projecting rims along their peripheral edges, said rims positioned for said two members to engage each other when said reversible face member lies against said base sheet member.

13. The vehicle floor mat as set forth in Claim 12, in which said peripheral rims on the base sheet and reversible face member are provided with mating sloped faces which abut against each other.

14. The vehicle floor mat as set forth in Claim l1, in which the underside of said base sheet member is provided with a plurality of resilient projections arranged radially.

15. The vehicle oor mat as set forth in Claim 14, in which each of said resilient projections is in the form of a pyramid with the tip point ol center.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PHILIP DIER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

